I am a mom to a great kid and 2 step daughters. My sweetheart Duane is an inspiration to me. He loves to eat healthy and although we both LOVE food, we work on swapping the fat for the good stuff as much as we can.

My favorite things to cook

I love to grill and bake almost anything. I get to entertain very rarely due to a busy life but when I do, it's a weeks worth of fun in the kitchen for me!

My favorite family cooking traditions

I would have to say Potato Latke's during Hannukkah. My grandma used to make them by the truckload.

My cooking triumphs

Probably the best cake I have ever made. It was a white cake with wonderful homemade lemon curd as one layer and a homemade raspberry puree in another layer. It was so beautiful and decorated with edible flowers. I found the recipe in a little book called Tea with Alice.

My cooking tragedies

A flourless chocolate cake that came out perfect! However, nobody go to try it. Due to a little accident, it ended up on the kitchen floor.

This was a brilliant idea. I was looking for a way to make my chuck roast without beef stock since I didn't have any in the house. I only made a few changes. I had already seasoned my roast yesterday with a mixture of a seasoning mixture I keep in a jar that consists of salt, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, onion powder and dried parsley. After I sauteed the onioons I added more of the seasoning to the onions (left out the fresh garlic)and let them sautee for another minute. Then I added the roast back in and splashed it with some Worcestershire. I then added the coffee, all 6 cups made a little strong. I added about 1/4 cup ketchup for a little sweetness. It came out fantastic! The very last thing I did different was add a roux. I didn't have sour cream so I did this instead. Yummy! The family loved it. The only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars is because I changed the recipe a bit.

I added the sugar and cinnamin to the apples and let them sit for an hour to set. I also used 1 more apple then the recipe called for. I used a blend of granny smith and jonathan. The cake came out great. It was a fun Rosh Hashana cake for my 5 year old son and I to make together. L'Shanah Tovah!